funeral brass and
Adrian Young
Adrian Samuel Young (born August 26, 1969) is an American drummer and member of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar.
Biography
When not performing, in the studio or touring, Young likes to spend his time out on the golf course, as he is an a ...
as a human beat-box. The lyrics discuss overcoming insecurities about a relationship with adoration. The lyric "to wash in your old bathwater" means accepting a lover's faults.
"Bathwater" is a ska punk song written in the key of
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.
The E natural minor scale is:
:
Changes nee ...
. It is composed in
swing time with a medium swing and moves at a moderately fast tempo of 138
beats per minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
. The song's verses are carried by
perfect fifth
In music theory, a perfect fifth is the musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so.
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval from the first to the last of five ...
chords with a i-IV
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
. Some use
minor key
In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor.
Intervals
Some intervals may ...
piano chords on the off beat. Stefani's vocal range spans over two octaves in the song, from G
3 to B
5.
Critical reception
"Bathwater" received mixed reviews from music critics. ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...
'' described the song's
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...
style as
campy
Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...
and noted that "even lovelorn teen girls may... think it's pretty yucky." ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' described it as a combination of
2 Tone and the
slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...
of
farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or ...
s by
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which '' H.M.S. ...
that "never drops the band's signature blend of adrenaline and sugar." In its review of ''
The Singles 1992-2003'',
musicOMH
MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.
History
MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
disagreed and referred to it as an "uncomfortable merging" of 1940s
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
and the work of 2 Tone band
Madness.
Chart performance
The single was a commercial failure, contradicting the overall success of the ''Return of Saturn'' project. In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, the song failed to enter the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and barely entered the Billboard
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data System ...
chart, inching to number 39.
[ "Return of Saturn" ]Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
In the territories where the song did chart, it performed poorly. On the
Australian
ARIA
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
Singles Chart, the single managed a number 71 peak position. In
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, the song reached number 73.
On
American Idol (season 6)
The sixth season of ''American Idol'' premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two-night, four-hour premiere special on January 16 and January 17, and ran until May 23, 2007. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned to judge once ...
,
Sanjaya Malakar performed "Bathwater", the week that
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs ...
was the mentor for the contestants. This performance is most famed for the
mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
*Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
*Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...
Malakar wore, which was composed of seven ponytails.
Music video
The music video was directed by
Sophie Muller
Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is a British music video director who has directed more than 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 ''Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's son ...
,
who also directed the video to their previous single, "
Simple Kind of Life
"Simple Kind of Life" is a song written by Gwen Stefani for No Doubt's fourth album '' Return of Saturn'' (2000). The song contrasts Stefani's desire to settle down and start a family with her commitment to the band. It received positive reviews ...
". The whole video comprises dancing. In it, Adrian Young cross-dresses as Gwen by wearing a platinum blonde wig and a black dress and Gwen appears herself with her trademark platinum blonde hair and wearing a black shirt saying "CAN'T TOUCH THIS" in glittery writing. It also features members of the
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. group
The Pussycat Dolls
The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the burlesque troupe ...
.
Track listing
# Bathwater (G. Stefani/T. Kanal/T. Dumont) - 4:03
# Beauty Contest (G. Stefani/T. Kanal) - 4:14
# Under Construction (G. Stefani/T. Kanal) - 3:12
#